Chapter 6.docx

Psychology 1
Chapter 6: States of Consciousness
State of consciousness—a pattern of subjective experience, a way of experiencing
internal and external events
Altered state of consciousness—variations from our normal working state (dreams)
THE PUZZLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness—our moment-to-moment awareness of our environment and
ourselves
Characteristics of consciousness:
1. Subjective and private—other people cannot directly know what is reality for
you, nor can you enter directly into their experiences
2. Dynamic (ever-changing)—we drift in and out of various states throughout
each day, we tend to experience consciousness as a continuously flowing
“stream” of mental activity
3. Self-reflective and central to our sense of self—the mind is aware of its own
consciousness, you can reflect on the fact that “you” are the one who is
conscious of what you are focused on
4. Intimately connected with the process of selective attention—focuses
conscious awareness on some stimuli to the exclusion of others; we focus on
the “spotlight” things
Self-report—people describe their inner experiences
Physiological measures—establish the correspondence between bodily states and
mental processes
Behavioral measures—including performance on special tasks
Freud’s three levels of awareness
1. The conscious mind contains thoughts, perceptions, and other mental events
of which we are currently aware
2. Preconscious mental events are outside current awareness, but can easily be
recalled under certain conditions
3. Unconscious events cannot be brought into conscious awareness under
ordinary circumstances. Some unconscious content is kept out of conscious
awareness because it would arouse anxiety, guilt, or negative emotions
 Cognitive psychologists reject the notion of an unconscious mind driven by
instinctive urges and repressed conflicts. They view conscious and
unconscious mental life as complementary forms of information processing Psychology 2
Controlled (effortful) processing—the voluntary use of attention and conscious effort—
more flexible and open to change
Automatic processing—activities can be performed with little or no conscious effort—
offers speed and economy of effort
Divided attention—the ability to perform more than one activity at the same time
 Many theorists propose that the mind consists of separate but interacting info
processing modules. Our subjective experience of “unitary” consciousness arises
from the integrated output of these modules
CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS: OUR DAILY BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS
Circadian rhythms—Every 24h, our body temperature, certain hormonal secretions, and
other bodily functions undergo a rhythmic change that affects our mental alertness and
readies our passage back and forth between states of wakefulness and sleep
 Most circadian rhythms are regulated by the brains suprachiasmatic nuclei
(SCN), which are located in the hypothalamus and acts as the brains clock
 SCN neurons link to the tiny pineal gland which secretes melatonin, a hormone
that has a relaxing effect on the body
 SCN neurons become active during daytime and reduce the pineal gland’s
secretion of melatonin, raising body temperature an heightening alertness
 At night SCN neurons are inactive, allowing melatonin levels to increase and
promoting relaxation and sleepiness
 Eyes have neural connections to the SCN. After a nights sleep, the light of day
increases SCN activity and resets your 24-hour biological clock
 Free-running circadian rhythms—when there is no way of knowing what time of
day it is, people drift into a longer natural cycle of about 24.2-24.8 hours
 Influence our tendency to be morning people or night people
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)—a cyclic tendency to become psychologically
depressed during certain months of the year
 Jet lag is a sudden circadian disruption caused by flying across several time
zones in one day—often causes insomnia, decreased alertness, and poorer
performance until the body readjusts Psychology 3
 SAD, jet lag, and night shiftwork involve environmental disruptions of circadian
rhythms. Treatments for circadian disruptions include controlling exposure to
light, oral melatonin, and regulating daily activity schedules
SLEEP AND DREAMING
 Approx. every 90 minutes while asleep, we cycle through different stages in
which our brain activity and other physiological responses change in a generally
predictable way
Beta waves—a brain-wave pattern of 15-30 cycles per second that is characteristic of
humans who are in an alter waking state
Alpha waves—a brain pattern of 8-12 cycles per second that is characteristic of humans
in a relaxed waking state
Stages of sleep
 Stage 1: as sleep begins, your brain-wave pattern becomes more irregular, and
slower theta waves increase. This is a form of light sleep where you can be
easily awakened, you usually only spend a couple minutes here and may
experience images or sudden body jerks
 Stage 2: as sleep becomes deeper, sleep spindles—periodic one- to two-second
bursts of rapid brain wave activity—begin to appear. Your muscles are more
relaxed, your breathing and heart rate are slower and you are harder to awaken
 Stage 3: sleep deepens and is marked by the appearance of very slow and large
delta waves. As time passes, they occur more often
 Stage 4: when delta waves dominate the EEG pattern. Together stage 3 and 4
are often referred to as slow-wave sleep. Your body is relaxed, activity in various
parts of your brain has decreased and you are hard to awaken
 Within 60-90 minutes of going to sleep, you will have completed a cycle of stages
1-2-3-4-3-2
REM sleep
 Every half minute or so, bursts of muscular activity cause sleeps eyeballs to
vigorously move back and forth beneath their closed eyelids—rapid eye
movements
 When people are awoken during this time they almost always can report a dream
 Physiological arousal may increase to daytime levels—heart rate quickens,
breathing becomes more rapid and irregular, and brain wave activity
resembles that of active wakefulness, men have penile erections and women
experience vaginal lubrication which is NOT the cause of sexual arousal
 REM sleep paralysis—voluntary muscles contract and muscles in the arms,
legs, and torso lose tone and become relaxed. Sometimes called paradoxical Psychology 4
sleep: your body is highly aroused, and yet it looks like you are sleeping
peacefully because you move so little
 REM dreams are vivid and story-like; more realistic. Non-REM dreams are
more still, like a tableau
 Falling asleep is not just a matter of turning off the brain systems that
regulate wakefulness; separate systems turn on and actively promote sleep
 Areas at the base of the forebrain (called the basal forebrain) and within
the brain stem are particularly important in regulating our falling asleep
 A different brain stem area—where the reticular formation passes through
the pons—plays a keep role in initiating REM sleep and contains REM-sleep
On neurons that periodically activate other brain systems, each of which
controls a different aspect of REM sleep, such as eye movements, muscular
paralysis and genital arousal
 Newborns sleep an average of 16 hours and its mostly in REM
As we age, 3 important changes occur:
1. We sleep less—15-24 year-olds average 8.5 hours and elderly adults average
just under 6hours
2. REM sleep decreases dramatically during infancy and early childhood, but
remains relatively stable thereafter
3. Time spend in stages 3 and 4 declines. By late adulthood, we get relatively
slow-wave sleep
How much sleep a person needs is influenced by genetic factors, work schedules,
stress, age, lifestyle, and general health
Short-term total sleep deprivation—up to 45 hours without sleep
Long-term total sleep deprivation—more than 45 hours without sleep
Partial deprivation—being allowed to sleep no more than 5 hours per night for one of more
consecutive nights
Restoration model—sleep recharges our rundown bodies and allows us to recover from
physical and mental fatigue. We need sleep to function at our emotional, mental and physical
best Psychology 5
 Some believe a cellular waste product called adenosine plays a role in why we need
sleep after a lot of activity—as it accumulates, it influences brain systems that decease
alertness and promote sleep, signaling to the body to slow down because too much
cellular fluid has been burned
Evolutionary/circadian sleep models—emphasize that sleep’s main purpose is to increase a
species’ chances of survival in relation to its environmental demands. Our prehistoric ancestors
had little to gain and much to lose by being active at night. Sleep may have evolved also as a
mechanism for conserving energy
REM-rebound effect—if not allowed to experience REM sleep, a tendency to increase the
amount of REM sleep after being deprived of it will happen when allowed to experience REM
again
 REM is vital for mental functioning, especially for processes related to learning and
memory consolidation
Sleep disorders
Insomnia—refers to chronic difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep, or experiencing restful
sleep and is the most common sleep disorder
 Pseudoinsomniacs complain of insomnia but sleep normally when examined in the
laboratory
Narcolepsy—involves extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks
that may last from less than a minute to an hour. No matter how much they rest at night, sleep
attacks may occur at any time and may go right into REM sleep. Believed to be caused by both
genetics and environmental factors
Cataplexy—experienced by some narcoleptics, a sudden loss of muscle tone often triggered by
laughter, excitement and other strong emotions
REM-sleep behaviour disorder (RBD)—loss of muscle tone that causes normal REM sleep
paralysis is absent. People act out their dreams by moving, sing, talking, punching etc.
Sleepwalking—sleepwalkers often have blank stares and are unresponsive to other
people but they seem vaguely conscious as they navigate around. It happens most
commonly in children but can be triggered in adults by stress etc.
Nightmares—frightening dreams Psychology 6
Night terrors—the sleeper suddenly sits up and seems to awaken, letting out a blood-
curdling scream. Terrified and aroused to a near-panic state, the person might thrash
about or flee to another room. They usually have n